Perfumes, colognes and after shaves are big business. What celebrity doesn’t have a signature scent somewhere that they are promoting? My olfactory sense is probably my most developed, except perhaps during allergy season. A spritz of Chanel No.5 can send me back to a different lifetime when getting ready for a date surely culminated in a final dab on my wrist as I checked in the mirror one more time. That was also a time when my father would jokingly tell my date how good he smelled and then turn to me and cross his eyes. OK, so when your young, you bathe in it with no idea how imposing your favorite scent can be. And my father welcomed any opportunity to be a wiseguy.

Speaking of imposing, there is an in-law who shall remain nameless who I am reluctant to hug but who always gives the old bear hug anyhow. My reluctance is only in that I will smell his aftershave on my clothes for the rest of the day or night. Most of us have a favorite scent and wear it often. The problem is, we adapt to the smell and can no longer tell how much is too much. So my advice is, try and find a few that you like and rotate them so you can always discern if you are being subtle or overbearing. One should have to get close to smell you, not recognize your presence when you are still parking the car.

I rather like my method of spritzing although some would call it wasteful. I spray in the air and then “ta da” I jump into it!